| dct:abstract
| - This volume produces the first study about the benthic tunicates of French Polynesia. The beginning of an inventory drawn up here concerns the Tahiti and the Moorea Islands in the Society archipelago and the atoll of Tikehau in the Tuamotou archipelago along the coast between 0 and 40 m depth. 92 species are listed and described, 39 of which are new species. Two families Cionidae and Molgulidae had never been reported in the Central Pacific. Among all these species, colonial animals clearly dominate and the family Didemnidae contains the most species. The distribution of Ascidians in the different kinds of biotopes is described: external slope, barrier reef, patch reefs in the lagoon and deep lagoon. Size differences are emphasized between solitary species in natural biotopes and the Papeete Harbour where organic matter is more abundant. We find a direct relation between the available food and the size of the specimens. The distribution of species according to the islands shows that Tahiti, with 74 species, though less sampled, is richer than Moorea with 68 species, the Tikehau atoll having many fewer species:46. In the three islands, it is the shallowest layer of the lagoon, from 1 to 3 m, which shelters the largest number of common species, the deepest species of the external slope remaining more characteristic in each region. The ratio between colonial species (84%) and solitary species (16%) is discussed and compared to the data in other world regions, with the same climate or a colder one, but stressing on the comparison with the Antilles. Some hypotheses trying to explain the reasons of the Didemnidae preponderance over the other Ascidian families are proposed, taking into account the particularities of this group of colonial Ascidians, in anatomy, development, budding etc. and the possible symbiosis with unicellular algae.
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| bibo:abstract
| - This volume produces the first study about the benthic tunicates of French Polynesia. The beginning of an inventory drawn up here concerns the Tahiti and the Moorea Islands in the Society archipelago and the atoll of Tikehau in the Tuamotou archipelago along the coast between 0 and 40 m depth. 92 species are listed and described, 39 of which are new species. Two families Cionidae and Molgulidae had never been reported in the Central Pacific. Among all these species, colonial animals clearly dominate and the family Didemnidae contains the most species. The distribution of Ascidians in the different kinds of biotopes is described: external slope, barrier reef, patch reefs in the lagoon and deep lagoon. Size differences are emphasized between solitary species in natural biotopes and the Papeete Harbour where organic matter is more abundant. We find a direct relation between the available food and the size of the specimens. The distribution of species according to the islands shows that Tahiti, with 74 species, though less sampled, is richer than Moorea with 68 species, the Tikehau atoll having many fewer species:46. In the three islands, it is the shallowest layer of the lagoon, from 1 to 3 m, which shelters the largest number of common species, the deepest species of the external slope remaining more characteristic in each region. The ratio between colonial species (84%) and solitary species (16%) is discussed and compared to the data in other world regions, with the same climate or a colder one, but stressing on the comparison with the Antilles. Some hypotheses trying to explain the reasons of the Didemnidae preponderance over the other Ascidian families are proposed, taking into account the particularities of this group of colonial Ascidians, in anatomy, development, budding etc. and the possible symbiosis with unicellular algae.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
